Chapter 2

A Horse To Love

"I am bored to death!" thought Mary, as she sat in her chair, tracing the outline of the desk with one of her hands while the other rest under her chin. She was staring out the window in a daze.

"Miss Lennox, please pay attention." Said her governess, who was sitting in front of her with a math book. Mary yawned and looked at her paper.

"Oh all this math makes my head ache! I want some fresh air."

Her governess tapped her pencil on the table with a hint of agitation and looked straight at Mary.

"Listen here now child, if you plan on being difficult you can stop right now, I will not put up with this kind of behavior. I am here to teach you and you shall be taught."

Mary sat up straight and rolled her eyes as she wrote down the math question told to her. She remembered that Lord Craven had asked her most politely if she could try to be kind and patient with her learning even if she didn't care for the governess.

She loved her uncle and thinking of his kind pleading words helped her to concentrate better on her study.

Mary and Colin both took the same class of learning and so the governess took on the responsibility of teaching both children until Colin left for Leeds in the fall. Mary dreaded it, she would miss her cousin and put the thought of him leaving in the back of her mind for the time being.

Soon enough, study time was over and Mary was free to do as she chose. She ran to the kitchen and picked up a basket and filled it with fresh fruit and some bread.

She went out and began to sniff the air. It filled her cheeks up with delight and she blushed. She lifted up her skirt to let her run more freely and headed to the garden and opened the door to enter when she heard a familiar whistle. Her face filled from ear to ear with a smile and glowed with content.

"Dickon, Dickon!" She yelled as she skipped through the garden to where he was trimming some branches.

"Miss Mary! How did studyin' go today?"he asked as he put down his pruning scissors to grab some blueberries from the basket she offered him.

"It was dreadfully boring. I couldn't help but think of what you might be doing out here, or what the animals on the moors might be up to, or how warm the air was today, but I had to keep doing math problems because Miss Crawford thinks I'm behind in my studies. I know them well enough, but I'd rather keep it in my head than have to use it."

Mary had argued with Dickon and Colin about not being contrary anymore, but she still was and even more so in her maturing years but Dickon didn't mind it one bit. In fact, he quite liked it when she was contrary, it put a certain glitter in her eyes that he admired.

They talked a bit more about the day when Colin came into the Garden with his notebook in one hand and chewing on the end of a pencil with his other.

"Mary, Dickon, do you think that we could really travel through time? I was looking through fathers papers and found a very fascinating article from a journal of a scientist named Albert Einstein claiming that by putting energy, mass and space into one equation, we could possibly travel through time, I got so terribly excited about it. Don't you think thats wonderfully intriguing!"

His eyes glittered with wonderment as he walked up to both who were now sitting in the grass. He sat down next to them.

"Oh yes indeed Colin,"Said Mary with a grin, she glanced at Dickon and gave him a smirk. Whatever Colin was talking about, it was something they both completely did not understand and it was their job to listen and let him talk.

Colin looked at Mary.

"Why are you laughing at me?"

"I'm not laughing at you Colin, it's just that I really never understand what your saying most of the time about those scientific equations or those mass energies or whatever they are called, you're too smart for me. You should talk about that stuff to professors in college."

She put her hand on Colin's arm and smiled at him.

"Aye Colin, Mary's right, thy should excited 'bout goin' t' College soon." Said Dickon. "Don't thy want to be goin' to College too, Mary, and get into society a bit?"

"No, not really. I'd rather stay here. I can learn more about everything from your mother or the library than any professor." She replied.

"Aye, mother knows anythin' 'bout anythin'. She's the wisest lass in Yorkshire," said Dickon, a big wide glowing smile came over his face.

Colin, who probably wasn't really listening to the conversation proceeded to write something down in his notebook and told the other two he needed to check something in the a book he forgot on his desk and left them again. They finished the fruit they had in their basket and laid in the grass on their backs and watched the clouds go air was fresh, still and quiet…

A strange sound floated through the air. Dickon jumped to his feet and cupped his hand to his ear to listen. The sound had come from outside of the garden. Far off on the moor most likely, but it wasn't just any sound. It was the sound of something in need of help.

"Do you hear tha'?" he asked quietly.

"I hear it, it sounds like the wind whistling for help. What could it be, Dickon?" She asked, now standing and taking a hold of his arm unknowingly.

"Sounds like an animal in need of some help. We should follow th' sound." He replied. "Follow me."

They both quietly walked out of the garden and past some trees and over a small hill nearby. The sound was only heard a few times and now they heard it again. Much louder this time, and Dickon moved his head to the sound like a dog who hears his name called.

They reached a small break of land in between two adjoining hills that had sunk underneath a fence and there lay a young horse, whining and kicking in pain. It looked exhausted, there was sweat all over its body and it was breathing harder than Sea Biscuit in a race. They both walked up to the horse, taking care not to scare it.

"Oh my! What has happened to the poor horse, Dickon?" Mary asked as she put her hand over her mouth and crept closer to the fence to get a better look.

"Eh, she got all tangled up in th' fence there, it's a barbed fence. Not good for horses, if we canna' get her leg out of the wire soon, she'll loose it and have t' be put down." He said.

"Oh dear!" cried Mary, her face turning sad and dark, she hated seeing anything in pain and the thought of having to put a horse down made her feel sad.

"Mun have fell down th' hill there. Young horses like this don't have much stability on th' hooves. Clumsy little thing. Don't worry, we'll get you out o' here little one" He said in a very gentle tone.

Dickon got a pair of cutters out of his pocket. (He always seemed to have the right tool with him at the right time) The young horse still moved and kicked and it was dangerous to approach her too close to her for she might give a deadly kick. He motioned Mary to stay put while he moved slowly to the horse's head. He crouched down and pet her, talking to her in a low voice.

He looked back at Mary and whispered just loud enough to hear. "Aye, Mary it's a little lass. An' I think it's a wild one. Most likely a pony like Jump. She says she has been stuck for o'er an hour. She'll let us help her out." He pat her face. "Mary, run and get rope for a halter." Mary ran back to the livery stables as quick as she could.

She looked around for some rope and found it in a corner along with some bigger cutters for the wire. She hurried over the hill to where Dickon was. He had gotten most of her free and was waiting for her to return. He took the bigger cutters and tied the rope into a halter and quietly put it in his back pocket then touched her tangled hoof and pulled it gently out so he could cut the wire from it. Mary watched from behind anxiously.

She wanted to save the little horse, but she also did not want Dickon to get hurt.

Dickon started cutting some smaller bits of wire that didn't make much of a sound, the little horse surprisingly laid very quietly while he did this, perhaps Dickon had spoken to her to make sure she knew they were there to help.

As he got to the bigger wires, he was a bit more apprehensive, as they would make large snapping noises that might scare the horse.

He held his breath and there was sweat beading down his forehead and neck, his cheeks turned bright red, he cut the wire.

SNAP

The little horse gave a squeal and kicked out in alarm, and Dickon sprung back quickly.

The little hoof hit his thigh with just enough force to push him down onto the muddy grass.

"Oh, Dickon! Dickon! Are you alright?" cried Mary as she ran down the hill to help Dickon to his feet.

"Aye, just a small kick in my thigh is all. I mun be careful next time. She does not like the noise too much."

He had held her hoof in his hand again and Mary stood back a bit. "Steady now, Mary be careful I'm going t' cut the last wire."

The wire snapped again with less energy from before and the little horse was free. She jumped to her feet and trotted up the hill out of sight of the awful snake looking things, as she had earlier told Dickon they looked like.

Mary and Dickon went up the hill after her, they got to the top and she had already started grazing.

Dickon took the halter from his back pocket and gently rubbed it across her muzzle to let her smell it, she neighed at him.

He put the halter on her very slowly and gently so that she didn't even know it had been done.

"Aye, good lass she is. Now we need to take her to the livery stables an' call up the vet t' see if she needs stitches." He whispered as he took Mary's hand in his free one and led both to the barn.

Mary ran to the house as quick as her feet would let her and ran into the hall where the newly installed phone had just been put. She phoned for a vet to come as soon as possible.

He arrived, late and grumpy, looked at the filly and checked her injured leg, added a bandage and told them to keep her in a stall until the swelling and bruising went away, which could be some weeks.

Mary, who had tied her skirts up and rolled her sleeves to the elbows had taken in some hay for the little horse and given her some water, she then sat near the door of the stall and watched her eat.

"She's beautiful, I should like to keep her if uncle says I can." She said to Dickon, who had been standing outside the stall watching as well.

"Aye, if tha' uncle says so, she would be a good 'un to ride th' moors. She's a good little pony. You could have little Sam break 'er for thee." he said. Sam was new at the Manor and he was hired to run the livery since Thomas had left for the war a year earlier.

"How wonderful! We could go riding together on the moors and gallop for hours and hours, oh it would be wonderful!" her face caught a sparkle and she stood up. "I shall name her Ella, because she is a beautiful little thing. It suits her."

The little horse neighed at them.

"Aye, it does, she says she would very much like to have the name of Ella and she likes you." said Dickon, smiling.

Mary smiled and left the stall. She took Dickon's arm and they walked up to the Manor to tell Colin and Lord Craven the exciting hour they had catching a wild horse.

If you have made it to the second chapter, thank you! I really appreciate your time reading this.

Again, any questions, comments, or ideas for upcoming chapters please post!